Reply by Gshepherd

Finishing for me at one time used to be a horrible experience as well. You spend many countless hours on a project to only mess it up in the end. You look for the easiest and quickest way to finish only to be dissapointed even more cause the easiest and quickest is not the best.

I realized that if went into the finishing process with the same attituude as I did when building it then the outcome would be a rewarding. I bought diffrent books and read them just as I would any other process and now find myself actually enjoying the finishing. I have read through the other replys and there is a lot of excellent information there. I look at it as the finishing process start the moment I start my project. Wood selection, grain orientation, milling marks and so on. Reference material is at a arms reach just as the numerous books on construction. Then you just like your projects get better and better at it and one day you realize it was a great ride.